Ghosts (Phenomenon)
Shadows of people who have died in the Metro and are unable to cross over due to, as stated by Khan, an atomized Purgatory. With no where to go, the souls of the dead haunt the lost tunnels of the metro for eternity, forever forced to live out their last moments over and over again until the end of time. These spectres do not seem to understand that they are dead and some of them continue to faithfully perform their duty that they had in life, for example, the ghostly defenders in the barricade. Appearances The only time the player confronts these are during the following levels: Chase - You collide with a Dark Ones Ghost, causing Artyom to pass out and enter the Dark Ones mind games, where he sees Hunter shoot one. There are also many ghosts of men and children around the edges of the tunnel while on the cart in the bypass tunnel. Since there is a Ghost of a Dark One here, it might possibly mean that someone killed one right here, and it is infinitely reliving its final moments. Since Artyom sees Hunter shoot it, it is likely that Hunter killed this Dark One on his way to, or from Exhibition. Colliding with it, if it is infact a ghost, and entering its mind games proves that even its Ghost still has telepathic powers or maybe the contact with a Ghost cause the person to see the Ghost last moments. Ghosts - Throughout the whole level, Khan gives Artyom some background on them. Here you encounter the Ghosts of People, Soldiers, Nosalises, and even a Ghost Train. This dates some of these Ghosts back to the nuclear incident that scorched the Earth, since the tunnel this Ghost train uses is intact, then it suddenly crashes. Read the Theories speculated below on some of the background Khan gives. Cursed - Three of them are blocking a small passage, opposite of the barricaded side of the station. Running into them results in an instant death (Excluding the first encounter). The Ghosts can only be seen when using the Flashlight; and even then, you will only see the silhouette. thumb|right|236px|Ghost Tunnel Level theme Theories There are multiple theories on what ghosts are. Note: The list below is speculation. *As mentioned by Khan, they are possibly some form of psychic phenomenon; perhaps created by the Dark Ones. *Also mentioned by Khan, a Ghost is the ultimate fate of someone who dies in the Metro, because after the nuclear incident, along with the Earth, Purgatory also became atomized, therefore, people are no longer able to cross over, and are left to constantly replay the final moments of their lives. *Energy from anomalies combined with the psychic powers of the Dark Ones bring the emotional energy of the people to life. *They are maybe a means of attack by the Dark Ones, suggested by the "Ghosts" trailer. However it is revealed that the Dark Ones have little hostile intent. *As mentioned above, it may also be possible they are mere scares for whoever sees them; as Alex stated, Dark Ones' weapon of choice is fear. *They may also be people trapped in the Dark Ones' vision dreams. In "Chase", if you look forward on the rail car, you will see a Dark Ones' ghost. This could be the Dark One killed by Hunter in the vision. *Visually, Ghosts bear a strong resemblance to the "blast shadows" created when a nuclear bomb explodes and burns an outline of a body caught in that blast into a wall or other surface. Trivia *The pipes in Ghosts (Level) contain child's laughter. *If the player does not heed Khan's warning about not staying for too long, the player will be confronted with a loud, tormented scream from a child and is pushed away from the pipes. *One of the specific "death messages" warns you of ghosts and suggesting you to keep your flashlight on at all times. This is greatly exaggerated, since the player only encounters a handful of ghosts in the game. *The so called "terrible event" may in fact be multiple events because several different ghosts can be seen in the tunnels, such as: a group of men guarding a barricade (Khan's former group), a small boy running from a Nosalis, a woman crying over a dead man (whose corpses can be seen in Ghosts (Level)), a metro train moving through the tunnels (or, at least, the lights, shadows, and noise), and few other ghosts in certain areas. These events are most likely unrelated because it wouldn't make any sense for a group of men to erect a barricade when they knew a train would eventually come along. *They may be former citizens of cursed station, due to the fact that the defender's ghosts may have been a militia of sorts, the other people may have been forced to the surrounding tunnels during mutant attacks and were killed by other means (bats, mutants, other ghost i.e. the train, etc.) Khan mentions that those killed by the ghosts often become part of their repeated final moments. *When the child ghost that gets killed by the Nosalis ghost screams for his mother, he seems to have an American accent, at least on the English version. Note from a russian player: this is not an accent, just this word (Мама!) sounds same in russian language. *The noises from the pipes are assumed by many Metro dwellers to be the voices of The Dead, however in the novel, the noises in the pipes (around the Kievskaya/''Park Poebody ''area) are actually the low, ghostly chants from the Savage Cannibals of the Great Worm cult, who's chants can be heard in the pipes to attract children. It speculates whether or not the noises are the voices of the dead but are indeed the cannibals, however the distance the noises seem to cover and the ghostly scream heard when Khan asks you to listen to the pipes suggest otherwise. *When the player comes up to the barricade on the level "Ghosts", there is a puddle. Should the player look into that puddle, they will see that the ghost's whom are standing in it's reflection is completely normal, unlike the sillhouettes normally seen. *Also on the level "Ghosts" if the player moves in front of Khan while the small boy is running away from the Nosalis it will jump and kill the player. *In ghosts the bodies of the victims are shown. There is a skeleton near the womans ghost and in the train near the childs ghost a skull can be found Category:Content Category:Metro Universe Category:Metro 2033 Category:Characters